MILLVILLE, NJ (May 13, 2012) – Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor sent a message to their competitors in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series that they are contenders for the championship by taking the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype (DP) to victory lane today at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The win was the third for the Corvette DP in the first four races of the 2012 season.

It is the second consecutive win for the pair this season, but their first at the at the 2.25-mile, 14-turn road circuit located about an hour south of Philadelphia. The win

“Congratulations to the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Corvette DP team for leading the majority of the race and winning today,” said Jim Lutz, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, GRAND-AM. “It was an exciting race from the beginning with a three to four car pack battling for the lead. We had some very strong Corvette DP cars today with the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP in the mix until the on-track contact put them out with less than an hour to go. But, I think the fans got a good show. Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor had a great weekend, winning from the pole, which results in a solid move in the championship points.”

“It was a very hard race,” said Angelelli. “My first stint was so difficult. We finally got a new set of tires for the last stint and the car was just fantastic. Corvette, SunTrust Racing; we won again!”

“It’s fantastic, said Taylor. “I was down on myself after having such a bad qualifying at Barber. Our SunTrust Corvette was so fast here this weekend. It makes it easy on me so I don’t have to push so hard. But it was fantastic.”

Giving the Corvette DP three of the top-five finishing positions were: Darren Law and David Donohue, No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP in fourth, with Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante bringing the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP to the checkered flag in fifth place.

The No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP finished seventh and the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP was scored ninth in-class at the conclusion of today’s race.

In the Grand Touring (GT), Robin Liddell and John Edwards powered the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R to a solid second place finish at the end of the 2.75-hour race.

“The No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R team did an excellent job in the GT class getting a second place finish,“ concluded Lutz. “The Autohaus Motorsports (finished fifth) team had a strong performance as well. I’m very pleased to get the second and fifth place finishes in the GT class, and improve in the points.”

“Well, it was a really hard race for us,” said Liddell. “John (Edwards) did an excellent job this weekend coming back from an injury and qualified the car on the pole. It looked really strong. We decided to try and save fuel and run the two-stop race; seemed to be playing into our hands with no cautions. And I think we all needed to save a bit near the end.”

The No. 31 Marsh Racing Wheelan Corvette finished eighth in-class.

In Saturday’s GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport (GS) class, Lawson Aschenbach and Eric Curran, No. 01 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R, were on the podium with a third place finish.

Other Chevrolet Camaro GS.R finishers were: No. 62 Mitchum Motorsports Camaro GS.R – 7h;

No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GS.R – 12th; No. 00 CKS Autosport Camaro GS.R – 14th and No. 6 Mitchum Motorsports Camaro GS.R – 21st.

Next up for Chevrolet Racing in GRAND-AM competition will be part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend, June 1-2, 2012.

POST RACE QUOTES:

MAX ANGELELLI, NO. 10 SUNTRUST RACING CORVETTE DAYTONA PROTOTYPE DP takes his 20th Rolex Series win and Ricky Taylor gets his sixth.

AT HOMESTEAD IT WAS ALL ABOUT KEEPING THE CAR UNDERNEATH YOU IN THE RAIN AND TODAY IT WAS ABOUT SURVIVING ALL THE PUNCHES FROM EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE FIELD. THE EXHAUST PIPES ARE BENT. EVERY PANEL ON THE CAR HAS A MARK ON IT. CONGRATULATIONS ON TWO WINS IN A ROW.

MAX, GREAT RUN TODAY. YOU GUYS TOOK SHOTS FROM EVERYBODY, BUT YOU SURVIVED

ANGELELLI: “Thank you. It was a very hard race. My first stint was so difficult. We finally got a new set of tires for the last stint and the car was just fantastic. Corvette, SunTrust Racing; we won again!”

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE IT SEEMED LIKE SCOTT PRUITT AND ALSO ALEX GURNEY WERE TRYING TO PUT A LOT OF PRESSURE ON YOU, ESPECIALLY IN TURN 1 WHEN YOU WERE LEADING. WERE YOU FEELING THAT PRESSURE? AND HOW HARD WERE YOU PUSHING THE CAR MID-WAY THROUGH?

ANGELELLI: “Of course I was feeling the pressure, but I knew why. I was using four tires on one side and I knew where I was gaining and knew where I was losing, so it was just a matter of managing.”

EVERYBODY ON THE TEAM WAS HANGING THEIR HEADS AFTER THAT 14TH PLACE FINISH AT DAYTONA. YOU HAVE WORKED YOUR WAY UP TO SECOND IN POINTS. YOU’VE GOT TO BE PRETTY HAPPY.

TAYLOR: “Oh, it’s unbelievable. I never expected we could have such a good points day with just nine cars here. I’ve got to say Happy Mother’s day to Mom.”

COMING INTO QUALIFYING YOU SAID MAYBE YOU’D LOST A LITTLE BIT OF CONFIDENCE BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T GETTING THE POLES YOU WERE BEFORE. WHAT DID THIS POLE AND THIS WIN DO FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE NOW?

TAYLOR: “It’s fantastic. I was down on myself after having such a bad qualifying at Barber. Our SunTrust Corvette was so fast here this weekend. It makes it easy on me so I don’t have to push so hard. But it was fantastic. Max was unbelievable with all that pressure from behind. It’s so easy to make a mistake in New Jersey. And just everybody; the pit stops were perfect. I lost the lead and they got it right back for us. It was unbelievable.”

RUNNER-UP IN GT, ROBIN LIDDELL, NO. 57 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO GT.R

WE DIDN’T HAVE QUITE THE HEAT WE HAD LAST YEAR HERE IN NEW JERSEY, BUT IT WAS A BIG RUN FOR YOU GUYS BRINGING IT HOME IN THE RUNNER-UP SPOT. TALK ABOUT THAT

LIDDELL: “Well, it was a really hard race for us. John (Edwards) did an excellent job this weekend coming back from an injured and qualified the car on the pole. It looked really strong. We decided to try and save fuel and run the two-stop race; seemed to be playing into our hands with no cautions. And I think we all needed to save a bit near the end. But yeah, very, very hard. We were about five laps short on the tires so everybody around us was a wee bit better. But we were just hanging on. I know myself and the No. 42 and the No. 44 were absolutely all over the place just trying to hang on at the end there.”

Auto legend Carroll Shelby died Thursday night at Baylor Hospital in Dallas at the age of 89.

Carroll Shelby’s shadow stretched out Texas tall across nearly the whole of the world’s automotive landscape. A natural as a race driver, he won three U.S. sports-car championships in Ferraris and Maseratis, and for Aston Martin he won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans with British co-driver Roy Salvadori.

Turning automaker in the 1960s, he fathered the Cobra, an Anglo-American hot rod of crude conception but stunning effectiveness that swept the tracks of North America and wrested a world manufacturer’s title from Ferrari.

Pratt Miller would like to extend our condolences to the family and friends.

Read the complete article here:

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120511/CARNEWS/120519987?utm_source=Alert20120511&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=missedarticle1more&utm_content=20120511-Carroll_Shelby__1923-2012&utm_campaign=awAlert

May 10 – 12, 2012

ESPN3 Qualifying Stream 3:15 PM CDT May 11th

ESPN3 Race Stream 3:15 PM CDT May 12th

ESPN2 TV Broadcast 4:00 PM CDT May 13th

Event Schedule:

http://www.imsaracing.net/2012/events/laguna/2012%20Mazda%20Raceway%20Laguna%20Seca%20Supp%20Regs.pdf

Facility Map

http://www.imsaracing.net/2012/events/laguna/facilitiesmap.pdf

Geometry Map

http://www.imsaracing.net/2012/events/laguna/track%20geometry%20map.pdf

Entry List:

Not posted

Corvette Racing Banquet:

http://tinyurl.com/C6RBanquet-ncm

Tickets:

Get Tickets

http://www.mazdaraceway.com/sites/main/files/file-attachments/2012_alms_ticket_price_list.pdf

2012 SPOTTERS GUIDE:

HOME

10 day Weather:

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=CAZ530&zflg=1

Radio Frequencies:

http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=788&Itemid=111

Corvette Corral info:

CORVETTE CORRAL

American Le Mans Series – Monterey

(*Tentative Schedule as of 4/24/12)

FRIDAY

8:00 – 5:00pm -Friday – May 11th

8:00am – Registration open, sign up for parade lap

9:45am – Raffle

11:30 – 11:45am – Parade Lap Safety Briefing (time pending)

Fehan – 12:00 – 12:30pm

Corvette Drivers – 12:30 – 1:00pm

Parade Lap – 100 Cars – 1:50pm-2:15pm

SATURDAY

8:00 – 7:30pm – Saturday – May 12th

8:45am – Roger Hood – Mobil 1

9:00am – Michelin – Bob Williams

9:55am – Corvette – Dave Tatman – Plant Manager — Bowling Green Assembly

10:30am – Raffle – Start of Race Ride, Pit Tours, Judging Awards, Vitesse Laps

11:30 – Lunch

Noon – Ron Fellows Presentation

1:30 pm – Start of Race

*Times are subject to change

I would like to personally THANK YOU for being a part of Search and Restore’s first build of Season 2. Attached you will find my press release regarding the details of the show. I would like to add that this is the best show yet – I am very proud to say that Search and Restore teams are not building “TV” cars – but real hot rods. The 1955 Handywagon is going to a true car enthusiast, as he will be watching the Premier on May 19 in Tacoma WA with his friends and family – the Handywagon will be on display at the Goodguys Car show in Nashville TN for all the fans to see. This is his “thank you” to all the volunteers and parts suppliers. I can assure you, this vehicle will be well taken care of!

Once again THANK YOU for being part of the build. If you are interested in being part of an upcoming build – Please contact me.

Search and Restore airs on SPIKE TV May 19, 2012 – Please pass it along to all your employees and customers.

Sincerely,

Tim Strange

Search and Restore Host & Lead Builder

——————————————-

Franklin TN, May 8, 2012: The focus of Search and Restore is on finding the family treasures and lost causes, bringing them all back to life. From coast to coast, host Tim Strange, and volunteer teams of pros will donate their time restoring rides nationwide to those worthy of a helping hand. Search & Restore is not just a show for automotive enthusiasts, but a great show that dad can watch with his family – there is a story and best of all NO DRAMA.

Tim Strange, award-winning rod builder, BMXer and owner of Strange Motion is the host and Lead Builder of Search and Restore. “The show is a feel-good, give back type of show,” said Strange. “We build projects for deserving people with touching or hard-luck stories. Each project we build gets four half-hour shows. We build four projects each season so there will be 16 episodes.” “There’s no better feeling than helping someone regain that sense of hope after they feel like they’ve lost everything,” Strange said. “Thanks to our volunteer build teams and the hosts of the other PowerBlock shows, we’re able to help someone pick up the pieces, turn a dream into a reality and have fun doing it.”

May 19, 2012 SPIKE TV will run the first build of season two of Search and Restore. It will run as a two hour special, you will see the beginning and end of the build. On Sunday May 20, 2012 SPIKE TV will do a rerun of Saturday’s show. The first build of the season, Host, Tim Strange share’s a common interest with the vehicle owner – BMX (Bicycle Moto X). Tim has been racing BMX since he was 13 years old. Currently Tim and wife Carrie, are very active in the sport and run a factory team, Strange Motion/Kicker. Strange and his crew completely build a 1955 wagon in a month, putting in more than 3,600 hours of labor. A three- or four-man shop, he said, would have finished the project in about a year. After receiving nearly 200,000 submissions from viewers, Search and Restore is PowerBlock’s answer to ignite hope back into the lives of those in need of a helping hand. Search and Restore is not a “How to” show, like the other PowerBlock shows.

Team Cadillac Invades Utah with Full Head of Steam in Pirelli World Challenge GT Series

Long Beach Winner Pilgrim Leads Charge to Miller Motorsports Park

• • O’Connell Leads Point Standings, Pilgrim 2nd After Three Rounds
• • CTS-V Coupes Tackle First Permanent Road Course of 2012
• • Added Weight the Price of Success for Pilgrim, O’Connell

TOOELE, Utah – Team Cadillac enters this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge PrivacyStar Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park with a head of steam, coming off Andy Pilgrim’s Long Beach victory in the last round and still building off the season-opening triumph by Johnny O’Connell at St. Petersburg.

The 3.048-mile Miller Motorsports Park course is the first permanent road course of the season for the drivers and their Cadillac CTS-V Coupes after two straight street courses to open the season. As such, it will present different challenges.

To begin with, both cars are carrying additional weight by virtue of the Pirelli World Challenge rules. O’Connell, who finished third at Long Beach, is carrying 144 additional pounds of REWARDS weight, while Pilgrim is carrying 96 for the same reason.

REWARDS stands for Rewarding of Equalized Weight Assigned to Reduce Driver Sensitivity, and its goal is to equalize competition among the top third of the field.

“The additional weight is going to play a role here this weekend,” said Pilgrim. “There are high-speed corners here, 100-mile-per-hour corners, and there are slower corners here too.”

O’Connell, who leads the points after three rounds, has always liked Miller Motorsports Park.

“Even though it is out in the middle of nowhere, I have always liked racing here,” he said. “It’s high-speed, rock-and-roll. The high-speed corners are really fun and challenging, especially Turns 1-5 It’s also the first time this year we’ve been on a permanent road course, and that’s always good.”

O’Connell leads the GT series points with 374 after three rounds, and Pilgrim jumped to second with 361 after winning at Long Beach. Lawson Aschenbach, the Round 2 winner, is third with 342. In the Manufacturer’s race, Cadillac leads Porsche, 25-20, with Volvo in third with 13.

Pilgrim said that consistency was going to be the key in the season-long points battle.

“With me, it’s all about top-fives,” he said. “If we can come out of every weekend with a top-five finish, we’ll be fine. In practice here, we were dealing with 30-mile-per-hour winds, and we might have that for the race, so it’s going to be all about setup this weekend.”

This weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge Championships races from Miller Motorsports Park will be streamed live online at www.world-challengeTV.com. The online feed for the GT/GTS Round 4 race is scheduled to start at 2:25 pm Mountain/ 4:25 pm Eastern Saturday, April 28.

Watch Team Cadillac win at Long Beach at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday on the NBC Sports Network.

Pilgrim Wins Long Beach GP, O’Connell Third for Second Straight Cadillac World Challenge Twin Podium

Pilgrim leads final 22 laps for first Long Beach triumph in Round 3 of series

• Cadillac Takes Lead in Manufacturer Points with Result

• O’Connell Leads, Pilgrim Second in Driver Standings

• Pilgrim’s Victory his 11th in Series Competition, First since ‘09

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Andy Pilgrim delivered a solid victory in one of the nation’s most legendary street races on Sunday, driving his No. 8 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe past Volvo’s Randy Pobst on the ninth of 31 laps and leading the rest of the way.

“I’ve never won at Long Beach,” Pilgrim said in Victory Lane after the caution-free event. “I’ve finished second here a couple of times, but it’s very good to win it and I’m really happy to have done it.”

Pilgrim qualified second for the 31-lap Pirelli World Challenge race on the 1.968-mile street circuit and held that position on the standing start. Polesitter Pobst rocketed away by virtue of his car’s all-wheel-drive, but Pilgrim and teammate Johnny O’Connell, who started third in the No. 3 Cadillac, stayed close through the first eight laps.

On the ninth, Pilgrim edged to the inside approaching the left-hand Turn 1 and turned in before Pobst could, sliding his silver Cadillac into a lead he would never give up.

“Randy got stuck in traffic on the hairpin, and I think I surprised him a little bit,” Pilgrim said of the winning pass. “I had been studying him for the first several laps, and it seemed like he was backing up his braking point a bit. I noticed that, and I waited as late as I possibly could, the door was open and it went through.”

From there, it was a matter of managing traffic and hitting his marks, which the Englishman did with aplomb. The gap stretched from one second to five seconds at times, and it ended with Pilgrim crossing the line 6.337 seconds ahead of the 2010 series champion.

“The Cadillac ran very, very well, and it was consistent, and I think the fact that we were green the whole time helped us,” he said. “We’re very happy, Team Cadillac is very happy, and we’ll take it.”

O’Connell kept contact with the lead pair throughout the race, but had to contend with traffic and could not gain. He finished third, 10.430 seconds behind Pobst, to give Cadillac its second straight double-podium finish. O’Connell finished second and Pilgrim third in Round 2 at St. Petersburg last month.

“If you’re not going to win it, it’s nice to see your teammate disappearing into the distance,” O’Connell said. “I was chasing Randy [Pobst] and studying him, and I kept hoping for traffic, but I never got the opportunity I wanted, and I knew he wasn’t going to make a mistake.

“I’m very proud of everyone on the Cadillac team, and through engineering and hard work, they gave us good cars.”

The victory was Pilgrim’s 11th in the series and first since 2009, when he won at Road America.

It was also a good day in the points. O’Connell leads with 374 after three rounds, and Pilgrim jumped to second with 361. Lawson Aschenbach, the Round 2 winner, is third with 342. In the Manufacturer’s race, Cadillac leads Porsche, 25-20, with Volvo in third with 13.

Behind O’Connell came a bevy of Porsches, led by James Sofronas in fourth and Aschenbach in fifth. The 911s of Tommy Drissi, Dino Crescentini, Justin Marks and Steve Ott were sixth through ninth, and the Ferrari F430 of David Welch rounded out the top 10.

“It was a great day for Team Cadillac here in Long Beach, and we could not be more proud of Andy and Johnny,” said John Kraemer, Cadillac V-Series Racing and Marketing Manager. “The development of this car over the past year has been phenomenal, and our team is putting in a lot of effort toward that end.”

Round 3 of the Pirelli World Challenge Series will be broadcast on NBC Sports, Sunday, April 29 at 3-4:30 p.m. EDT.

Next up for Team Cadillac is the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park on April 27-28.